Keep Reaching For Me
by Karei Lee
Summary: "No matter how close people get, they never reach each other. Including us now. Even now, there's a place where each of us is alone."


**Disclaimer**: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball GT. In other words? Nothing affiliated with it.

**A/N**: Before we dive right into my first DBZ Fanfiction, I'd like to clear up a few things:

**1**. Goku will definitely be out of character (OOC) most of the time. I want this story to portray the way a man in real life would react to the fact that his friend/family member has just died, with anger and grievance!- Not "Don't worry. We've got Dragon Balls!" or when a woman's husband is gone for 7 years, "Oh honey! I'm glad you have finally decided to return! Plus, dinner is ready!" See what I'm getting at?

**2**. I'll be introducing my OC, Kairi!

**3**. The first few chapters will take place during Dragon Ball when Master Roshi has just taken on Goku and Krillin as apprentices for eight months of training before the Tournament Saga. (World Tournament isn't till DBZ) Goku and Krillin were both 12 at this time.

**Prologue**: 汚れや 汚れ (Dirt or Dirty?)

The tiny girl peers up breathlessly at the looming figure that she had just collided with.

He sighed, "Do you remember what I said to you about leaving this place?"

Tight-lipped with annoyance, she could only nod.

He was angry with the girl. This was obvious. Yet when the man noted her pouting cheeks and wavering eyes, he could not help but chuckle.

"You believe you have a right to be angry with me when you are the one who made me worry?"

"No Hajime." She replied apologetically.

"So then. Why did you go this time?"

"I don't like those men." She mumbled.

The man's usual even keen façade dropped within an instant. "Why? Did one of them hurt you?" She had to be quick with what she had to say by the way her brother's tone turned rigid.

"No!-"

"_Liar._" A tiny voice interrupted. "I just don't want to play with them."

He seemed to relax and place a small smile back on his lips. It didn't take much to make him angry but neither did it to make him happy once more.

With a sarcastic wave of the hand, he dismissed the child's words, "They will not interfere with your playing Kairi."

She wanted to correct her brother by saying it was more than that. It was looking for something to do other than have one-sided conversations with her cat, but those were unnecessary words.

"How was it?"

Kairi thought back to her time with the boys. She may have ran like a complete coward, but she found the experience not as horrific as Hajime had explained touching a boy would be like. "Fine."

Hajime noticed the pause she gave to think over something before answering. If there was anything he hated more then the girl leaving his supervision, it was secrets.

"You have something that you are not telling big brother," He placed his palm softly against Kairi's cheek, lowering his face to her own and bringing his voice to a whispering tone. "You just better hope I don't find out before you willingly tell me."

Hajime straightened back up to give a ruffle of Kairi's hair before walking back to the house.

She watched his back as she tried to convince herself that she would not be seeing the black haired boy again, so what could one little secret hurt?

First things first. She needed to go take a bath to make sure Hajime did not see any of this _dirt_ he spoke of.

*****Earlier that day...*****

The winter's frost had settled into the forest, and it had begun to move its hard bristles over the dry landscape. She shivered as she weaved through the leaves and branches that had crashed to the ground from the trees high above. The season was cold and sharp as it bit at her fingers and the wind kissed her aflushed cheeks. It was so quiet- but the occasional crunch of a leaf and a whisper of her name spoken on winds, "Kairi." that carried far until it fell silent and dead.

Red silk that pooled at her feet from an over weighted kimono slid beneath the girl's next step and caused her to stumble forward onto her knees.

The overwhelming sting hit her first, then the feel of a sticky substance told her that she was bleeding.

She sighed inwardly, '_M_y _first time losing them early in the day and this is what I get_!' Kairi held up her hem to examine the damage. '_Hajime won't like this_..' The silk was still perfectly intact but the palms of her hands had taken the brunt end of the ordeal.

She picked herself up without shedding a tear, which she was proud of, and continued her journey away from the men who were suppose to keep things like this from happening to her.

"Kairi!" All five of them yelled ferociously in unison.

She knew from trial and error of this same scenario that she could never out run the men for long, so rather she did what any other frightened eight year old child would do; hide.

Kairi slammed her back almost painfully to the opposite side of a tree trunk in a haste to get out of sight.

She glanced around nervously, deciding to stay put in hopes they would soon pass by her.

"Kairi!" The voices drew near, provoking her breath to become ragged.

She was afraid they would hear her loud panting, so she clamped her hands over her mouth securely. When the sound of rustling dry branches scraping together hit her ears, the girl's fear took over and she childishly closed her eyes in hopes to disappear.

"Why are you running from those men?"

The unfamiliar voice took her by surprise. She peeked through half open lids in expectance to see another person standing in front of her. Instead she was face to face with a creature that didn't really scare her but confused the girl.

Kairi couldn't believe her eyes. She closed and reopened them again and again but a ball of spiky, black hair was still somehow speaking to her.

Her hand reached out on its own to touch the foreign creature in amazement and in response she could have swore she heard a purring before it asked, "Can you do that again?"

Kairi giggled softly, "Okay. But you have to do something for me too."

"Depends?" The creature said more in a questioning tone then statement.

"On what?"

"On what the favor is."

She scrunched up her nose to this, "But then how do I know you'll do it?"

A hand shot through the branches and leaves right by the creature, causing the girl to yelp. The hand seemed to be confused, upside down searching for the ball of hair. Once it had a grip on the strands, the hand began to scratch.

"Hm. Well I don't know what to do then." it finally said back.

"Are there any more body parts up there that I should know of?"

"Is that your favor?"

"What? N-" Kairi's voice failed her when she was met with a pair of small black pupils only inches from her own.

"You're pretty." The boy smiled, looking like a frown from where she stood. Her face flushed bright pink. She quickly turned her head away, embarrassed by the reaction.

"Now it's my turn!" He exclaimed excitedly.

Kairi kept her face turned from his view while she outstretched her hand again to give the boy's black hair a few strokes. She was surprised as to how his hair could be so soft when it looked like the boy had never even heard of a bath; and the way his hair fell into points had her wondering how it set when he wasn't hanging upside down from a branch.

The comforting purring sound returned again and for a moment Kairi forgot all about how much trouble she was in.

"Goku!"

And there it was again.

Kairi swiftly retracted her hand to her side and peered wide eyed towards the direction of the holler.

Goku jumped down from the branch to stand beside Kairi. She failed to notice him staring at her once more as her body stood stiffened.

"It's okay. It's just my friend." Goku said oddly close to her.

She relaxed a bit with the last of his words. '_Friend_', she thought.

"Stop running off without me! We're supposed to be training together!" the angry voice emphasized on the word together.

"I didn't. I saw something- well someone running and I wanted to see who." Goku explained, walking over towards a pair of rustling bushes.

Out came a bald headed boy with the same orange jumpsuit as Goku. He was covered with mud blotches on his face and tree branch scratches across his arms. He was hunched over and breathing heavily when Goku came by to pat him on the back with a little more force than he meant. The boy tripped forward towards Kairi.

"I'm Krillin!" he greeted with a smile, extending his hand to meet her's.

Kairi backed up into the tree with both eyes penetrating the outward hand.

"I-I.." She stuttered.

"You're afraid of me but not the kid growing a tail out his back?"

"No-"

"Is it because I'm bald?" Kairi could not believe the serious expression that came upon his face. If she had not have been looking the boy dead straight in the eyes, she would have swore he was joking.

"No!"

"You know, a lot of people my age are ba-"

"Krillin!," Goku suddenly intervened. "Let her talk."

That was the thing though. She couldn't. Her brother had warned her about talking with anyone that wasn't him and how they could dirty her. That didn't frighten her as much as the thought of him finding out that she had gone beyond talking but _touched_ one. She looked down at the hand that was petting a boy just mere moments ago. "_What was I thinking_," the girl mentally scolded.

"Are you okay?" Goku asked, tilting his head slightly.

She took one last glance into those pitch black eyes before darting off in the opposite direction of the boys. She could hear Goku yelling for her as she made her way back to the house.

"_Did you forget everything you were told_!"

Kairi stopped suddenly.

"_No.. You didn't. You only forgot with the boy Goku_." She blinked a few times in confusion.

"_Maybe because you thought he was a ball of fur at first_?" That had to be it. Why else would she panic at the sight of the bald one and not him?

"Wait!"

Kairi shook her head in hopes to empty her mind before picking back up pace.

When she cleared the willow tree that stood behind the house, she looked back at the path to make sure neither of the boys had followed her. In the midst of turning back around, she ran face first into a sturdy chest.


End file.
